The cast members of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ react in horror to the death of Charles in the farce being presented at the rustic Pickleville Playhouse in Garden City. They are (from left) Taylor Hall, Slater Ashenhurst, Jaycee Harris and Jordan Todd Brown, plus Ryan Sammonds (reclining) as the corpse.
GARDEN CITY – You’ve got to be really good to look as bad as the cast of The Play that Goes Wrong does here at the Pickleville Playhouse.
After all, we’re accustomed to ignoring a few stage mishaps. That’s just part of live theatre.
But its absolutely hilarious to see a deliberately inept troupe steadfastly plow through forgotten lines, missed cues, lost props, head injuries, an unconscious leading lady, a dead body that won’t stop moving, scenery that is falling apart and countless other technical and artistic gaffs which are all part of the show’s running gag.
Staging that kind of show not only takes consummate skill, but also high energy and perfect comic timing. The mostly veteran cast of this Pickleville show has all that and more.
In lieu of their usual fall musical – The Addams Family – the theatrical Davis clan decided to present the 2012 farce by Henry Lewis, Jonathon Sayer and Henry Shield of jolly old England’s Mischief Theatre Company. Amid the non-stop laughter from beginning to end, the Pickleville audience didn’t seem to miss the usual singing.
Employing the treasured theater gimmick of a play within a play, the plot of The Play that Goes Wrong centers on a production of The Murder at Haversham Manor by the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society that fails disastrously — but laughably.
Brilliantly directed by Derek Davis as always, the play operates on more levels than a freight elevator, because all the actors play dual roles first as English ham actors and then as the struggling characters in the murder mystery.
Nathan Kremin leads this romp as Chris, the Conley Society’s oh-so-British director. He briefly introduces each act, assuring the audience that everything is going to “go swimmingly.” Until it doesn’t, then he loses his mind and his character – Inspector Carter, don’t ya know? – and blames audience for his troubles.
There’s Ryan Sammonds who starts off the show as Charles — a corpse – then forgets to stay dead.
Pickleville veteran Jaycee Harris plays Florence, the corpse’s fiancée who naturally was having an affair with his brother Cecil.
But the affair mustn’t have been very torrid, because Cecil is played by Max (Slater Ashenhurst), who is gay and has quite a bit of trouble kissing Florence on stage. You’ve got to see them together to believe it.
Taylor Hall is Florence’s overprotective brother, who spends way too much time trying to catch falling props and scenery.
Also on hand is the always watchable Jordan Todd Brown as Perkins, the corpse’s faithful butler, who has a little trouble both reading and pronouncing his lines.
Finally there’s the Kenzie Davis Kremin, cast against type as plain-jane Annie, the back stage technie. When Florence becomes a casualty of bad blocking, Annie is thrown onto stage replacing her and then refuses – strongly — to give up the spotlight.
Ms. Kremin wears the most adorable little smirk as she brains Florence with a serving tray.
The Play that Goes Wrong is a puzzlingly who-dun-it but, in the end, who cares?
Part Sherlock Holmes, part Monty Python and all gifted performers playing ham actors, the show left its second-night audience practically parallelized with laughter.
The Play That Goes Wrong will continue weekends at the Pickleville Playhouse in Garden City through Oct. 21.